Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 88, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 April 1918 — Page 2

IN 4-D

By MAUNA COWLES

(Copyright, 1918, by the McClure Newspaper Syndicate.) "Tenant in "“apartment Four D, Marbridge court,” whispered vociferous Nathan, the young man who worked the switchboard at Curtis & Carter’s real estate offices. The young man listened to the voice on the telephone, then turning to the young Mr. Carter, he said: r “She wants to talk to one of the firm. Kind o’ mad, I should say. Want to talk to her, Mr. Carter?” ■ “What’s she -like?” queried the youngest member of the firm. “Sounds like a cranky old school ma’am. She’s awful mad — “Oh, well, I might as well talk to her. Hl kid her a little, and maybe that will keep her quiet,” and still turning over the papers on his desk, with his right hand. Mr. Carter reached out with his left hand to take the receiver off its hook on his desk phone while the operator connected him with the tenant in apartment Four D. “So you’re pretty cold. Well, now — I didn’t catch the name —Miss Crosby —I certainly am sorry. But you’ll have to see Mr. Hoover about that. Now, you don’t think we’re keeping that apartment cold just to make you mad. No, honest, there isn’t any way we can get more coal. What —the theaters get coal enough. Well, that’s a good one. All you can do, then, is to go to a show. It’s matinee day. Now, really, I didn’t mean to make you angry. But you see, everyone is kicking, and it really isn’t our fault. We can’t get any more coal and all we can do is to try and keep cheerful about it. 1. What? You bet that it isn’t so cold here in our office as it is in your apartment? Well, now, Miss Crosby,. Til have to admit that it is pretty comfortable here. We’ve got a southern exposure and we’re on the ground floor, and somehow these office building people do manage to get the coal. Yes, it is unfair. 'What? Why, certainly. Td be glad ta see you. Come right along. Yes, just ask for Mr. Carter, Jr., Frank Carter. Good-by, Miss Crosby. I’ll see you soon.” He hung the receiver back on the hook and then clapped his hand over the ear with which he had been listening as if to relieve it from the effect of the volley fire that had been charged on it through the phone. "Wow,” he said, addressing the telephone operator on the opposite side of the room, beyond the little wooden fence. “Wow, but she certainly is some sour old maid. I thought I’d kid her Into good humor, but it was the wrong tack. I wonder if she’ll call thy bluff and come down and see how warm we are. But say, Nathan, try to get the coal commissioner on the wire again. It’s a shame to run the fires so low. Ask them if they can’t let me speak to him personally. It seems as if something ought to be done.”

A half-hour later young Carter heard a very low but unmistakable whistle. It was Nathan’s way of indicating that something worth observing was occurring in the office. There was a note of admiration in the whistle —distinctly it was his way of signaling to the other boys in the office and Mr. Carter, who was still young enough to be interested in such a signal even though he was a member of the firm —the proximity of a pretty girl, Carter looked up from his paper, caught the direction of Nathan’s gaze and the.n whistled an answering whistle, very low. but still audible to Natfian. It was a pretty girl and she was approaching in the vicinity of Nathan. Enveloped in a voluminous furtrimmed rough woolen coat of a dark violet hue, with her hands encased in a black muff to match the fur on her coat, with a picturesque black velvet hat, cut on the poke bonnet order, that cast much shadow on her face, there was still enough opportunity to see that the girl beneath so much warmthgiving clothes was young, animated’ and pretty. -The- bewildered NathanJooked up as. she approached and to her query that Carter did net hear, he nodded to the desk of the youngest member of .the firm. Then the violet coat and the delicate aroma of violet sachet that went with it moved toward the little wooden fence that hedged in Mr. Carter’s desk. “Here I am,” said the girl. Tm the tenant in Four D., Marbridge court. Where do you want me to sit —inside the fence or outside?” Carter jumped frosn his sedt and was so confused that all he could say was: “Inside the fence —please take this chair, any chair, any chair. Yes, indeed. You —are actually Miss Crosby? How very good of you.” “No, I -Won’t take your chair. I’ll take this little one,” she said, slipping out of her coat and revealing a very neatly fitted plain blue serge dress beneath. She placed the chair precisely half way between the radiator and the window where the light would come over her left' shoulder. “There,” she said. *T like it just like that. T shall knit and not disturb you at aIL Please sit down, Mr. Carter. You can’t imagine what a pleasure it is to be warm." Carter noted a tone of asperity in the girl’s voice but he did not feel in the least irritated by IL He tried to •wing h?aßjlf around in his swivel

chair so that he could go on with the work before him, but the chair seemed to swing of Its own accord around agwln so that he sat looking at his guest. “So —so you took my Invitation seriously, did you? Pm glad.” He laughed with embarrassment and the girl opened two blue eyes wide and round, with studied naivety, behind which Carter knew lay much sarcasm. “Why, didn’t yop mean that you wanted me to come?” she asked. “You first suggested the theater, but you see, Pve been at the theater till I’ve seen every show in town and every movie in the neighborhood. And I simply must get these army sweaters done!” Carter noticed that she had taken a half finished khaki sweater from her bag. Even to his inexperienced eyes the knitting seemed wonderfully firm, warm and compact and he noted the gold ends of the knitting needles. “I’ve called on all my friends. You see I don’t know many people in town, and I’ve shopped till I’ve bought a trunkful of things I don’t need. I’ve spent hours in church and other hours in the museum and the public libraries. So your invitation was very welcome. Perhaps if I had always lived in the North I conld stand the apartment. But you see this is my first winter North. I came with my aunt and now she has gone away for a few weeks and I’m dlone. One feels the cold more when one is alone, I think.” Then promising not to disturb Mr. Carter any more she continued her knitting in silence. From time to time when Mr. Carter felt that her eyes were intent on her knitting he swung around in his swivel chair and caught a timid glance at the girl. Sometimes he noticed the graceful ankle, at other times the slender capable hands that were so neatly framed In the tight white lace cuffs of her dark sleeves. At other times he noticed the glint of auburn in her hair and then again the long curve of the dark lashes that shaded her blue eyes. He did not know that from beneath those long lashes the blue eyes were perfectly capable of observing his stolen glances though the graceful fingers went on uninterruptedly with the needles and wool. “Couldn’t you give me a job?” Nancy Crosby put this question to Mr. Carter one day after she had been making her visits to his office for the purpose of keeping warm during the course of an entire week. “I am getting tired of knitting. One can’t do that all the time. I could do copying for you and sort over papers perhaps and stick up envelopes and stamps and things.” So Mr. Carter secured a little mahogany desk, had it placed beside his own and there established Nancy Crosby as his volunteer assistant. They had finally agreed that the money that she earned as his assistant should be contributed to the Red Cross. It was in the afternoon of that day that Mr. Carter dropped in at the Marbridge Court and getting the emergency key to apartment Four D from the janitor there let himself into the empty apartment and did a little amateur tinkering on his own account. That morning through his incessant efforts a goodly supply of coal had been deposited in the coal bins of the Matbridge Court. Nancy Crosby continued to work for him for a week more. He asked her one day whether" her apartment was still cold. “Yes,” she said, “it really is dreadful. There isn’t any steam in the living room radiator, though the bedroom radiators are all right. But you see I can’t stay there in the day time. Isn’t it strange, for the other tenants are perfectly comfortable now.”

‘‘Yes, it is funny,” agreed Carter, and began to read a lease on his desk with eagerness. At the end of that week Nancy’s aunt was expected to return and Nancy had indicated that she would have to give up her job. “I took it just to be spiteful. In fact, I came down to bother you, just to make you furious. I thought you were holding off the steam so as to save money and I intended to find out and to make you so tired of seeing me around that you would get the coal at any cost. But really I have had a lovely time. Thank you for making it so pleasant. But now that aunt is coming back I really wish something could be done about that apartment.” *TII go up myself,” Carter promised. “Maybe something is theriffatter with the Irving room radiator. TH have it attended to at once. But—but —we aren’t going to forget each other now, are we? You see, I’ve been getting terrifically interested in you, though I suppose to you I’m an impossible sort of fellow.” “Impossible I” echoed Nancy. “You don’t suppose I would have fibbed about the radiator if I hadn’t wanted an excuse to be with you. I haven’t even noticed whether It was hot or cold.” “You haven’t” gasped Carter. “And I put the valve out of commission in your living room.”

Family Well Represented In War.

Practically all the members of the family of Henry Phipps, pioneer steel man and millionaire philanthropist, have been called into war Of his sons, John S. Phipms captain In the aviation dlvisiorrof the United States Signal corps; Hal C. Phipps is a captain In the ordnance department at Washington, and Howard Phipps is preparing for a commission in the regular army. Mrs. Amy Phipps Guest, a daughter, has converted her palatial London home into a hospital. Frederick Guest, husband of Mrs. Guest, is a captain in the British army, and Bradley Martin, Jr., husband of Helen Phipps, is a major in the United States army.

THE EVENING REPITBLTCAN. RENSSELAER. TND.

Trim Blouses for the Business Girl

There are many kinds of trim blouses for the business girl (and nearly all the girls of today are filling their time with some sort of business) to wear with her trim tailored suit. . Some of them are so new in design that we have not seen their like before, and many, of them are like the blouses of other seasons, except that they have a touch of “this season’s style” stamped on them in the shaping of the collar or -the management of their trimming, or in the construction of the blouse. Making one garment do the work of two is an idea that has found favor this spring, and we have with us the waistcoat blouse. It is the natural outcome for blouses in a season whose coats are nearly all fashioned open at the front where they reveal the blouse. Separate waistcoats to be worn with these open coats made their appearance, usually in pique or wash satin, worn over the blouse. Then came the waistcoat-blouse; a waistcoat of white satin combined with a blouse of georgette crepe in white or color, the two made Into one garment. Another waistcoat-blouse is developed in white voile in the effect of a little coatee with waistcoat, roll collar and cuffs of white pique. Speaking of roll collars, they distinguish the reason and prove universally becoming. They appear in all the materials used for blouses and in pique. They are high at the back and usually long in the front. Collar and cuff sets of satin, pique or organdie are sold separately and worn with coats or attached to blouses where they fulfill their purpose as a finish and serve to brighten the coat suit. Georgette crepe, voile, organdie, batiste, linen and wash satin are the materials that make the cool and lovely blouses of this season. Straight and

WHAT can WE DO?

There is an advantage in the choice of knitting as a work fOr the soldiers, because women can carry this work with them wherever they go. And nearly all people who knit say the work is fascinating and restful, rather than tiresome. But, if it does become monotonous or “gets on the nerves,” there are other things to do. in entirely different lines, that will refresh* the fagged knitter. Business women, who cannot find time to accomplish much with knitting, find the making of scrap books for convalescent soldiers in the hospitals, quick and easy work, and immensely Interesting. These scrap books are to be filled with pictures, cartoons, humorous camp stories, post cards, and anything that is cheering' or interesting—but never long. The pictures must be cut from books or magazines that are printed on a good quality of paper. Kodak pictures and post cards that represent places of interest anywhere In the world, and, of course, pictures of pretty girls and little children are sure to please the soldier no matter what his degree in the social scale.

In making these scrap books for the soldiers ove are cautioned againkt putting 1U anything that will produce homesickness. Pictures and stories thar-sfiggest family reunions on holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas are’ to be kept out The soldiers enjoy most jokes on “rookies" and young officers and funny cartoons of camp fife. To return to our knitting, those who can turn out socks have a right to be proud of this accomplishment and a right to the gratitude of the less efficient but willing people who can snly knit less difficult articles. Among the latter, abdominal bands are recom-

cross tucks, narrow frills and plaiting*, sometimes in contrasting colors, and the Introduction of fine ginghams id collars and cuffs are characteristic dec* orations for them. The blouse pic* tured is of georgette with very fine tucks in rows at each side of the front. Cross tucks set in at the front or collar and cuffs of cross-tucked organdie set onto a plain blouse are easy for the home dressmaker to manage, especially as she may baste these finishing touches to a blouse and let the hem-stitcher do the rest.

Black Satin Stock.

One of the new collars consists of a stock of black satin, unrelieved by any white, to which is attached a big jabot of fine meshed cream-colored net, edged with lace. The effect is decidedly smart, although the absence of any white in the stock might not be well borne by some faces.

Red-White-and-Blue Bags.

The shops are showing some interesting handbags in the red, white and blue colors that can be duplicated at home by the girl who can crochet. They are made of silk or mercerized cotton in tight, simple crochet stitch and show stripes of white with the two patriotic colors.

Cretonne as Trimming.

One of the advance notes of spring is that cretonne will be considerably used as a trimming for sports suits. These cretonnes are striped and flowered in such a way that they can be cut away and used in any appliqued way desired. Some of the dresses and suits which originated in Paris are trimmed with small bits of ribbon or' printed material in which the small flower ornament is outlined with gold) embroidery thread. ?

mended. They are plain bands worn for warmth about the abdomen by men who must stand in the trenches, or are otherwise exposed to the cold, and they require a knowledge of the plain garter stitch and of purling. They are made of white or gray wool. Sox, sweat'ers, bands and wristlets may well occupy our summertime for knifr ting, so that our army may face next o rncnrvn rtf - thfclA fWIK AvllllvT WTTrI ct lunrl MX tIIVOXT tvux* forts In store for them.

Beauty Hint

Housework, such as sweeping and bedmaking, Is extremely good exercise, and a good brisk walk, with head held high and nose sniffing the fresh air, when- you go to do your household errands is most wholesome, says a writer in Mother’s Magazine. At the risk of being considered a bore, I w’ant to urge again that the easiest way to growing old is to let yourself become a bore. That is one of the great dangers—the danger of narrowing one’s horizon, one’s subjects of conversation, one’s interest in the larger things of life. It is a mistake to confine your thoughts to the limits of your own town, a bigger mistake to limit them to your own and biggest of all is the fault of being Interested in people* only, not in the current events of the day. If you have never found the newspaper interesting, now, as middle age is creeping upon you, learn to be interested in it Get from the library a good magazine which reviews the politics, the history, the scientific advanca of the past month, and read it and talk about what you read.

SOME POSTSCRIPTS

Hatpins with flexible points that can be returned into a hat after having been passed through it have been invented in England. .y In addition to gripping a nut with both jaws, new pliers have a piece of metal that slides up between the jaws to take a third bold. Portugal’s vineyards contain nearly 693,000,000 vines and the wine production last year is estimated in excess of 109,000,000 gallons. Swedish physicians have perfected a cellulose dressing for wounds that is made in thin sheets like tissue paper from chemical, wood pulp. . . A patent has been granted for a cigarette box from which each cigarette can be drawn separately by a strip of paper that passes under it. One of the largest electric plants In the world Is being planned to supply power for nearly all the mines around Johannesburg, South Africa. A rusty grate can be cleaned with black lead, allowed to remain on the metal for a day or two to absorb the dust before the metal Is polished. An old proposition to lay flat steel tracks for wagons on worn-out roads In England Instead of rebuilding the highways again is being advanced. New in the line of office conveniences is a device to be attached to a wall or desk to withdraw pens from holders without soiling the fingers.— Houston Post.

THINGS WE’D LIKE TO KNOW

How bank presidents learn to sign their names so Illegibly. Why a man always feels like a criminal when he draws money out of a savings bank. Why somebody doesn’t Invent a floor for banks that won’t have an evil smell, when being washed. How anybody is going to know which is a bank’s favorite vice president, when it has six or eight of them. Why a check has to be Indorsed on the back, when it could be done so much more easily if there were a space provided for that on the front. Whether the eighth vice president ever gets despondent over the possibilities of outliving the other seven and getting a regular job. Why a cashier will spend days tracing a one-cent shortage when be could make the books come out all right by giving the bank a cent out of his own pocket. Why the new style banks, whose ceilings are from 30 to 100 feet above tlTfe floor level, don’t utilize the wasted space by hanging a big bird cage from the roof and putting the president in ft during the dull hours. —Life.

QUAKER QUIPS

“Live and let live” is a motto that no longer appeals to soldiers or profiteers. ' You never can tell. Many a man isn’t even strong enough to break a promise. Necessity knows no law, but nevertheless it generally takes its hat off to the lawyers. Wheat will win the war, but that shouldn’t influence a man to drink more than his share of rye. The cynical bachelor rises to remark that after a man is married his troubles never come singly. When a man says he is wrapped in thought, don’t suggest that good goods come in small packages.—Philadelphia Record.

TIPS FROM TEXAS

—And when a girl has pretty teeth she will yawn if she can’t smile. Our observation is that, no matter how much inspiration a man has, he gets grouchy without an income. Our observation is that when a woman wears an ultra stylish hat it makes her husband look common. As a general thing, when a man is devoted to what he calls “the big central idea,” other people have to do the work. It may get so pretty soon that the most liberal giver will be the one who drops a slice of bacon in the contribution basket. —Dallas News.

FLASHLIGHTS

The hero of today has no title deed for tomorrow. Some bank balances grow rapidly, but they are easily checked. Some people can’t stand prosperity, but the inajority don’t get a chance to try. Next to doing things that should be dona is learning to leave undone things that should not be done.

A LITTLE BIT HUMOROUS

MIDNIGHT HAPPENING. There is a woman living on the Heights ’who is rather timid about fires. And the night was cold, and her husband was out of town, and when she retired at night she felt nervous. After an hour or maybe two or three,'she was awakened by the sound of a loud gong, beating rapidly. She sprang from her bed. The house stands close to the street, and the gong was clanging in front of the house. She rushed to the window and threw it open. There were no fire engines visible, but a street car was standing on the track, and somebody was calling “Fire! Fire!” “Don’t stand there and yell ‘fire!’” she shrieked to the street car crew, both of which were standing in the street. “Turn in an alarm !” “Go back to bed, lady,” answered the motorman. “I wasn’t yellin’ fire. The trolley was off and the conductor couldn’t get it back On and I was yellin’ ‘Higher—higher!”' And that’s all there was to it. Time Tables. “Is this train on time?” asked the local passenger. “I don’t know just what to say,” answered the conductor. “We’ll get into the station at four o’clock.” “Why, that’s when she’s due, to the minute.” “les. But she’s exactly 24 hours behindhand.” The Real Reason. She —How does it happen that you never married, when you’ve been engaged so many times? He—l can give the best references from all the girls who broke the engagements. They all say Tm too good for them. HEAVY.

The Professor—ln ancient times they wrote on bricks. The Absent-Minded Man —Gee! I bet no man ever forgot to mail his wife’s letter then. Real Troubles. The kicker silent now we find. He seems to lose the trick. He has so much upon his mind He hasn’t time to kick. Naughy Neighbors. “How do you like your neighbors?” “Not a bit.” said the woman who was trying a little boy’s hat on. “You see, they don’t like children.” “How do you know?” ‘‘They hurt Reginald’s feelings dreadfully. When he throws stones at their dog or plays the hose on their windows they look real cross at him!” —Pacific.Unitarian, _________ No Compliment “I told Henrietta that I was proud to see her vote just like a man," said Mr. Meekton. “Did that please her?” “No. The choice of phrase was unfortunate. She«said that if she couldn’t vote better than a man there would have been no need of her troubling about the ballot in the first place.” A Relief. “Your husband has been talking to those pretty young girls for almost an hour, and you don’t seem to mind it at all." “Not a bit. So long as they are ‘ willing to listen ’to his nonsense, I don’t have to.” Real Temptation. “I must not forget to lock up my diamonds,” said the cautious woman. “Never mind about them,” replied her husband. “No sensible burglar bothers about diamonds. You see that the refrigerator is locked. That has pork chops and a sirloin steak in it." A Woman’s >Xy. Mrs. Bilton —Weren’t you surprised, dear, when your husband gave you such a nice present? Mrs. Tilton—No; I was suspicious —Lampoon. .